- Hey guys, Easter is right around the corner,
and you know what means, it's carrot cake season.
I wanted to share with you my ultimate recipe
for carrot cake, it is moist and decadent,
and flavored with just the right amount of spice,
raisins, pineapple and nuts,
all my favorite things to put in a carrot cake.
Let me show you how to put it together.
In a large bowl, you're gonna crack in four eggs,
to that you're also gonna add a cup of vegetable oil
and a cup and a half of sugar.
You can whisk that all up until everything is combined
and then you're gonna add a cup of crushed pineapple.
I really love to add pineapple to carrot cake
because I think it adds a really nice sweetness
and will keep that cake nice and moist.
You do wanna drain the pineapple first, though.
And then you're also gonna add 3/4 cup of water,
two teaspoons of vanilla,
then in a medium bowl we're gonna add 4 1/4 cups
of all-purpose flour, two teaspoons of baking powder,
one teaspoon of salt
and three teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
Now, because I'm American I love my pumpkin pie spice,
but if you live outside of the United States
and you can't get it, you could also just use
two teaspoons of cinnamon and one teaspoon of nutmeg.
So you can whisk up your dry ingredients
and then you're going to add the dry ingredients
to the wet ingredients, just in thirds,
mixing until everything is nice and combined.
And then the next step is to add two cups of grated carrots
and one cup of raisins.
And you can stir that all together.
Then you're gonna pour your batter out
into two nine inch cake pans,
just equally distribute it,
and then you're gonna bake at 350 for about 20
to 25 minutes, just until a toothpick comes out clean.
While your cake is cooling,
we can get on with making the frosting,
and is just a simple cream cheese frosting.
So in the bowl of an electric mixer
you're going to add two eight ounce tubs
of whipped cream cheese,
I like to use the whipped cream cheese,
but if you can't find that
you can use just the regular brick kind as well,
2/3 cup of powdered sugar
and then we're also gonna add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
And then you're just gonna beat the cream cheese
with the sugar until it's nice and combined
and then you're gonna add a cup of heavy cream
and what this is going to do
is, as we beat it together, it's going to thicken
the cream cheese mixture a bit and lighten it
so it's actually beating that cream
almost like whipped cream would
and you'll end up with a really smooth light frosting.
That will be as heavy
as a traditional cream cheese frosting.
So you're gonna take about half of your frosting
and put a nice generous dollop in the center
of your first cake layer
and then we're just gonna smooth that out
with an offset spatula
and then we're gonna add two tablespoons
of unsweetened coconut flakes.
I like to use the unsweetened
because you get the real coconut flavor
without a lot of sugar and I find
that it's just a little bit better
and not as sweet that way.
And then on top of that we're gonna add some chopped pecans,
about two tablespoons as well.
And I just think it's a nice unexpected twist
to have the coconut in the nuts in the frosting
as opposed to the cake,
'cause there's already a lot going on in the cake,
between the pineapple and the carrots
and the raisins, so this way we kinda distributed it all.
Then you're gonna pop your other layer on top of that,
can go ahead and add the rest of the frosting on top
and give that a nice spread with your spatula
and then we're gonna do the same thing,
we're gonna add the remaining shredded coconut
and top with the chopped pecans.
Then I do like to take this cake
and pop it in the fridge for at least an hour or two
before you serve it, because that will help
that cream cheese frosting set up a bit,
which will make it easier to create nice, clean slices,
when you go to serve it.
I hope you guys give this one a try
and let me know what you think.
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and remember, you can get all of these recipes
in printable form on my website
at entertainingwithbeth.com.
All right you guys I will see you back here next week.
Until then, bye.